Desperate
by davestridersjunk
Summary: After hearing a conversation take place in Snape's office, Hermione attempts to comfort Draco Malfoy, who is more than willing to let her comfort him. WARNING: This story has SELF-HARMING in it.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

**_WARNING!:_ THERE IS SELF-HARMING IN THIS. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.**

**Authors note: I haven't updated this story in any way, I just want to pass an idea past people. Please go to the end to read! **

* * *

A frown graced Hermione's features, her mouth slightly open. What were they talking about?

She'd been on her way to the library as usual, when she'd heard voices in Professor Snape's office. And, well, when did he ever accept guests? She couldn't ignore the urge to know what was going on, therefore, she stayed and listened through the door. A simple spell had made the walls thinner, so that she could hear more.

* * *

"He's just a boy," Narcissa said. She was so disappointed in Draco. All along she'd try to steer him in the right direction, but no. He wanted to be just like his father. And of course, she was made the idiot and the fool for getting involved with someone like Lucius Malfoy anyways. She could only blame herself for her Son's actions.

"That's besides the point. The Dark Lord has chosen him, Narcissa- Bella, don't touch that! We cannot change his mind. He wants Draco." Snape replied in his monotonous voice. Narcissa bowed her head slightly, searching her mind for anything the dark lord could want, anything to free her son from his clutches.

"What would he want with Draco? He's just a boy," She repeated, her voice sounding more desperate.

"He has power. He holds the Malfoy name." Snape said.

"That's just a name!" She cried desperately. "I'll change his name to Black. Draco Black, please, Severus."

Her hands had half-moon shaped dents in them from her fingernails. For the past half an hour, just after she'd received the news that her son was wanted to side by Voldemort, her hands had, without permission, rapidly began to twist around each other in worry. Snape stared at the woman in front him, debating his answer. Finally, he replied.

"I am sorry, Narcissa. There is nothing I can do that could change the Dark Lord's mind,"

Narcissa gave a choked sob before Bellatrix cut in.

"You know… I quite agree with her. Draco _is_ just a boy, after all. He's worth nothing," She spat the last part. Narcissa stood from her seat.

"You're wrong! My Draco is worth everything," She retorted. Bellatrix's eyebrows rose in sick amusement.

"Everything?" She asked sarcastically, pouting her lips and tilting her head to one side. "I've seen the boy; He couldn't succeed in anything,"

"He could be much more successful than you," She whispered, attempting to defend her own child. Bella took a step towards her, preparing to inform her about how unsuccessful her son had been.

"He can't even fix a vanishing cabinet on the seventh floor!" She hollered. Narcissa flinched slightly, but decided that she'd had enough of this attitude from her husband.

"A vanishing cabinet? Fixing a vanishing cabinet shows what kind of knowledge he holds?" Narcissa asked. Bella looked her up and down, surprised with his vicious answer.

"My son is top in all of his classes; he would've passed every one of his OWLS if you hadn't thrown all of this stress onto him. _He's just a boy. _He's_my_ boy."

"Surprised you haven't disowned him. Or do you take pleasure in your foul attempt to defend him? He's going to end up just like his father. Wrapped around Voldemort's finger." Bellatrix whispered tauntingly. Narcissa shook her head.

"No. No son of mine will obey such a man," She growled through gritted teeth, before she swiftly turned around and walked out of Severus's office, her heels clapping loudly on the floor.

Hermione took this as her chance to leave, but she knew that she would at least be scalded by Mrs. Malfoy for being out of the corridors at night. She ran down towards the closest corner, but because of her panicked actions her feet emitted loud noises from the floor, alerting Narcissa of her presence.

"You there!" She shouted. Hermione took a deep breath and turned around, she swallowed and waiting for the unbelievably beautiful to catch up with her.

"You do know Draco Malfoy?"

"Wha..?" Hermione stuttered. She wasn't getting into trouble?

"You are a prefect, no? That is no matter. Do you know where Draco is? I need to speak with him. Urgently." She said, slightly out of breath.

"He may be in the Slytherin common room. It's located in the dungeons." Hermione said. The woman looked puzzled. Hermione looked around nervously, her brown eyes flitting all over the place. Narcissa's ice blue ones were plastered onto her face.

"I can show you the way," Hermione whispered gently. The woman's features softened before she nodded, and they both headed towards the Slytherin common rooms.

* * *

"You are Narcissa Malfoy, aren't you?" Hermione asked, fearing that she would have to act very proper in front of the woman.

"Yes, yes I am. I hope I don't have too much of a bad reputation here," She said, smiling softly. Hermione shook her head.

"No. I- just… Draco looks like you," She said. The older woman laughed breathlessly.

"No, no. Draco looks just like his father," She said sadly. Hermione laughed and shook her head.

"No. He acts like his father. He looks just like you, trust me," Hermione said. Narcissa nodded at her with wide eyes.

"You're right," She whispered. "Excuse me for asking this question so late, but, would you mind telling me your name?" She asked. Despite the woman's soft voice, it echoed off of the dark walls that they'd just entered.

"Hermione Granger," She said, almost ashamed of her title. The woman turned to her.

"I knew I had seen that face somewhere," She said. "Yes, you are quite a courageous young lady, aren't you, Miss Granger?"

"I don't think so myself actually." Hermione said. Narcissa turned to her with a startled expression.

"Oh, but girl, you faced all of the adventures with Harry Potter," She said, obviously confused. Hermione gave a small laugh.

"No. I… just figure out things," Hermione said with a small frown. "I'm like the brains. Harry is the more brave one, he goes on all the adventures, I suppose," She said, shrugging.

"Must be a clever young lady, yes you are, the best in all of your classes. Draco's told me all about you." She said. Hermione instantly thought back to her second year when Narcissa's husband had said the exact same words to her. She licked her dry lips.

"I hope nothing too bad," She said. They stopped in front of the Painting.

"Here we are," Hermione said. "I don't know the password but I'm sure she'll just let you in, you know, because you're a parent," Hermione gestured to the sleeping woman inside the portrait.

"You can find your way back, can't you?" Narcissa asked, not wanting the poor girl to get lost.

"Oh yes, I'll be fine." She gave her a brief smile. "Goodbye, Mrs. Malfoy."

Hermione turned without another word and made her way to her own common room. Going over what had just happened in her head. Had she really just had a conversation with Malfoy's mum? And a pleasant one, no less? She shook her head full of curls softly and chuckled. Well, at least his mother wasn't as bad as his father. And what was up with that conversation in Snape's office? Voldemort wanted Draco? Why? She sided with Narcissa. He was just a boy.

Her walk back to her common room was rather long, but she couldn't have just left the woman to wander the corridors and end up lost. Also, she'd missed the library, but she could catch up tomorrow, she decided.

Once again, she was stopped and her interest was tweaked as she heard moaning and groaning through the prefects bathroom. She swallowed thickly before pressing her ear against the door. A whimper. Another moan. Sighs. And gasps. She grit her teeth together, preparing her eyes for what they might see, before swiftly opening the bathroom door and stalking in.

She tilted her head to the side. There were no randy teenagers having sex… but the moaning and groaning was still there, and it was then that she realised, they weren't moans of bliss, they were moans of pain.

She walked further into the room, silently shivering as the door shut loudly behind her. She looked around the doors before her eyes landed on a boys body not too far away. It took her a while to also recognise that it was Draco Malfoy. And that he was bleeding. He was also crying, and hyperventilating.

"Malfoy? Are you okay?" She asked. He didn't answer her. Simply stared at the wrist in front of him and continued to weep. She hesitantly took a step closer before he scrunched his eyes up in pain. In her defence, the room wasn't very well lit and she had to light two of them with her wand before she could go any further. When she could see him more clearly she walked over to him and sat beside him, her back against the wall. His back was hunched over and shook ever few seconds when he sobbed and tried to breathe properly.

"What's wrong?" She asked. She hated to see anyone in pain, even if it was Draco Malfoy. He just looked so vulnerable… and so fragile. She was scared to touch him in case he hugged her and sobbed onto her. She tried to locate exactly where on his body the blood was coming from before some small, silver and shiny clattered onto the floor. He choked on his breathing and fresh tears made their way down his face. Hermione picked up what had fallen from his hand.

The blade from a razor. She closed her eyes over and clasped the blade in her hand.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, but it was like talking to a brick wall. He raised his head and slammed it back against the wall. His usual handsome, pale face was now blotchy and tear trails streaked his face. His mouth, which was usually curled up in distaste, held the shape of a small frown. Hermione couldn't say she liked the image, she would rather deal with the usual Draco than a helpless Draco any day.

Just when she thought he was calming down, he let out a strangled shout and began to cry again. He looked like a small child who hadn't got what he wanted, after a few seconds he opened his steel grey eyes and Hermione almost gasped at them. They were rimmed with red, full and glistening with unshed tears. He growled before snatching the razor out of Hermione's fingers. She gasped and tried frantically to get it back off of him, cursing him for taking it from her at such an unexpected time.

"Please don't," She whispered as he laid the blade onto his pale wrist, a bubble of blood appearing as he applied pressure.

"You never liked blood," He said, despite it having nothing to do with the conversation, she felt grateful that he spoke. His words were true, everyone knew that she didn't exactly love blood. He dragged the blade down over his wrist and bit his lip at the thought. She grabbed his wrist, never minding about the little blood that spread to her fingers. He stared at her.

"Please, stop it, I can help you," He continued to stare at her before he frowned.

"Nobody can help me," He whispered.

"Your mothers looking for you, she's in the school," Hermione said. Draco shut his eyes over slowly before he breathed out of his nose.

"I can help you," She repeated firmly. She took the blade from his hand when he pulled it away from his wrist and flung it far away so he couldn't get it back if he wanted to. She held his arm and muttered a few spells to clean up his blood and new skin formed over the slashes he had made. Even after she was done healing him, she held his arm.

"What's wrong?" She asked, he still cried, but had calmed down a lot earlier.

"I… He-"

"He wants you, doesn't he?" She asked, remembering the conversation in Snape's room. He nodded.

"You don't want to do what he says, do you?" She whispered the last part, realisation crossing her features. He shook his head and she put an arm around him, letting him rest his head on her shoulder. He was in need of some comfort, and she was giving him some. She was actually surprised he hadn't hexed her and ran away, but sometimes, just sometimes, you get desperate.

And obviously Draco Malfoy was desperate enough to let his enemy, and a muggle-born comfort him.

* * *

**Authors note: Okay, how do I explain this?**

**This is probably one of my most successful stories and I can't believe I wrote it two years ago! Almsot every review I have of this story is asking me to make this a chaptered story and I've battled with making a sequel, but I just can't find the right one. **

**I've written two sequels for this story, but quickly took one of them down when I realised that I didn't like it. I posted another sequel up a few weeks ago, and I liked that one better than my previous sequel, but I still don't like it.**

**I'm in the middle of writing another sequel that I think I might like, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, I just wanted to brush some ideas past you guys, because I like communicating with you and I really enjoy having your opinions on things, it makes me feel much closer to you guys!**

**Okay, the first idea is sequels:**** Do you think that this should have a sequel, or is it good on its own? I feel both ways with this story. I feel like it would be fine on it's own, but it also feels a little unfinished to me, which brings me onto the next idea,**

**Making it a chaptered story: I would be so scared to turn this into a chaptered story. I'm not very good with maintaining chaptered stories and most of the time, I end up just deleting them because I've lost motivation and interest and stuff, and I don't want to lose interest with this story, because even two years later, I still like it, and that's more than I can say for a few of my other fics xD  
**

**The next idea would obviously be just keeping it on its own: Do you think it needs another chapter/sequel to back it up, or do you just like it the way it is? Like I said, I enjoy it both ways, but I want to satisfy everyone and not just myself. Plus, I really don't want to ruin this story by making it rubbish or horrible, because like I said, I kinda like this one.**

**Please comment/review with your thoughts on this. If most people want me to keep it the way it is then I won't touch it, but if people want me to continue it then I'll attempt to finish it. **

**Also, if you have any better ideas then message me for sure and we can talk about it! Like I said, (I've said that a lot, haven't I? xD) I really enjoy having your guys' opinions and stuff, I feel like it makes me make better decisions when I'm writing. :-)**

**Sorry if this update gave you hope that there's another chapter, lol! It's just me rambling instead XD**

**Put a star (like this one *) at the beginning of your review to let me know that you read it all the way down to here :P **

**Thanks for reading and to everyone who's already reviewed. I'm so happy that you guys enjoyed this story and it would be nowhere without you! **

**-FallenForTheDraco X**


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